Sunday, March 18, 2018

Ally Parker, the heroine of The Bridesmaid's Royal Bodyguard - part of the #invitationtoaroyalwedding series from Tule - was not only one of Hope Kennard's bridesmaids.

Hope wanted her wedding to take place from her home, Hasebury Hall, in the pretty Cotswold village of Combe St Philip and, at Hope's request, Ally agreed to take on the local PR element of the wedding.

This was no simple matter. The Kennard family had been a part of the village forever. The female line went back to the 13th century and Hasebury Hall had been at the centre of village life until Hope's father - short of liquid assets - had become ensnared in a ponzi scheme and had gone to prison. The Kennard's were no longer flavour of the month in the village.

Ally had to engage the village in the wedding, make them a part of it,, make them feel that it was their celebration.

The wedding reception itself would take place in a marquee in the grounds of the Hall but she came up with the idea of inviting the whole village to a party on the village green, A marquee where a buffet would be served, sideshows, a carousel and for the evening, dancing and a hog roast. Here's just a taste - fizz, beautiful cake bouquet centrepieces from the WI and the carousel.

As a final touch, there would be a draw amongst the villages - a straightforward name in the hat job, no favourites - for a place in the churchyard to see the royal party and the bride arrive.

She was also creating a diary of the wedding, to be published for charity. With her background in journalism - she'd worked for the gossip mag Celebrityuntil she'd been ignominiously sacked without notice - she realised that there was a chance to raise a great of money for a charity to be set up in Hope's name, Hope for Children

For this she would be scouring the family archives for photographs and talking to the royal family on her visit to San Michele for the official announcement of the engagement at the ball for celebrating Prince Jonas's birthday.

Oh, that trip. That ball.

I forgot to mention Count Fredrik Jensson, the royal family's security chief. He didn't trust Ally an inch further than he could throw her. He was convinced she was using the chance to get up close and personal with the royal family to get her job back. That said, it couldn't be denied that there was a not so much a spark as a heatwave from the moment they first met which made the fact that he was determined to stay up close and personal to Ally - just to keep an eye on her - a lot more dangerous that keeping the royal family from harm.

Thursday, March 15, 2018

I will be giving away this beautiful royal wedding mug created by William Edwards to commemorate the wedding of Meghan and Prince Harry in May.

For a change to win this lovely bone china mug, drop by my Facebook page on 27th March and leave a comment telling me why you'd love to be in St George's Chapel to see this precious moment, or be a guest at the wedding of Hope Kennard to Prince Jonas in the pretty village of Combe St Philip!

Sunday, March 04, 2018

It's read an eBook week and to celebrate I've made number of my books free at Smashwords, including a rare opportunity to download my Little of Book of Writing Romance.with a click that will cost you nothing.Here's the link so don't delay - grab them for your reader!

Saturday, January 20, 2018

I'm thrilled to be included in he Mills and Boon relaunch with reprints of two of my favourite books - A Wedding at Leopard Tree Lodge in Wedding Wishes andSecret Baby, Surprise Parents in Baby on Board. Each book contains three full length stories and they are priced at a very tempting #99p